Synchronization signal block (ssb) based beam measurement and reporting in 5g nr

ABSTRACT

A user equipment that selects at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) resource ID based on measurements of a second signal block, wherein the second signal block comprises a system information block (SIB) in 5G new radio (NR) that is spatially quasi co-located (QCLed) with the SSB resource ID, generates a beam reporting message including the selected SSB resource ID(s) and transmits the beam reporting message to a base station. A next generation NodeB (gNB) in a wireless network including the gNB and a UE that allocates downlink (DL) reference resources (RS) in a frequency range for the UE, wherein the DL comprise SIB occasions, each associated with a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource identification (ID) and receives reporting messages containing measurements by the UE for the DL RS.

PRIORITY CLAIM/INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The present disclosure claims priority to U.S. Prov. Patent Appln. Ser.No. 62/846,254 filed May 10, 2019 and entitled “SYNCHRONIZATION SIGNALBLOCK (SSB) BASED BEAM MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING IN 5G NR,” thedisclosure of which is incorporated herewith by reference.

BACKGROUND

Beamforming techniques can significantly improve network resourceefficiency and is one of the major innovations in 5G new radio (NR). In5G NR frequency range 1 (FR1) (sub-6 GHz bands), antenna array basedanalog beamforming can be deployed at the g-NodeB (gNB) side. In 5G NRfrequency range 2 (FR2) (mm-Wave bands), antenna based beamforming isdeployed at both the gNB and UE side. Beam acquisition may be applied tofind the best beam at the gNB (in FR1) or the best beam pair between theUE and the gNB (in FR2). Beam acquisition is not only used for initialaccess when the UE is identifying the best beam configuration at the gNB(and UE) to start communications but is also used in the RRC_CONNECTEDstate so that a previously selected beam pair can be re-selected duringthe run-time due to UE mobility.

In the RRC_CONNECTED state and in both FR1 and FR2, beam acquisitionheavily relies on beam reporting indicated by the UE to gNB. In thisbeam reporting, the UE measures bursts of downlink (DL) referenceresources (RS) allocated by the gNB, where each DL RS is associated withone gNB beam candidate. Subsequently, based on the DL RS measurements,the UE down-selects the best DL RS IDs and reports them to the basestation. The base station can then make a decision for beam switching.When the base station determines that beam switching should beperformed, the gNB can send beam indication messages to the UE totrigger the beam switching.

In the above process, beam measurement and reporting play an importantrole. According to 3GPP Release 15, beam measurement is based onSynchronization Signal Blocks (SSB) or beam management (BM) channelstate information reference signals (CSI-RS). However, BM CSI-RSresources are not guaranteed to be available because they areUE-specific resources and are optionally deployed and configured bynetwork vendors. Allocation of SSB can be guaranteed. However, SSBmeasurements may be shared with different purposes that requiredifferent UE beam settings. For example, SSB-based radio resourcemanagement (RRM) may have the UE set up wide beams for SSB measurementto make the serving cell SSB and neighboring cell SSB measurementscomparable. But for SSB-based BM, the UE may set up narrow beams for SSBmeasurements to ensure link performance upon a serving beam switching.As a result, SSB measurements used for BM (e.g., for beam measurementand reporting that is based on narrow UE beams) cannot be shared withRRM. This results in a reduced measurement update rate that can reducethe beam reporting reliability and, thus, also the UE mobilityperformance.

SUMMARY

Some exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a userequipment (UE). The method includes selecting at least onesynchronization signal block (SSB) resource ID based on measurements ofa second signal block, wherein the second signal block comprises asystem information block (SIB) in 5G new radio (NR) that is spatiallyquasi co-located (QCLed) with the SSB resource ID, generating a beamreporting message including the selected SSB resource ID(s) andtransmitting the beam reporting message to a base station.

Further exemplary embodiments relate to a user equipment (UE) having oneor more processors and a transceiver. The one or more processors areconfigured to select at least one synchronization signal block (SSB)resource ID based on measurements of a second signal block, wherein thesecond signal block comprises a system information block (SIB) in 5G newradio (NR) that is spatially quasi co-located (QCLed) with the SSBresource ID, and generate a beam reporting message including theselected SSB resource ID(s). The transceiver is configured to transmitthe beam reporting message to a base station.

Still other exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a nextgeneration NodeB (gNB) in a wireless network including the gNB and auser equipment (UE). The method including allocating downlink (DL)reference resources (RS) in a frequency range (FR) for the UE andreceiving or causing reception of reporting messages containingmeasurements by the UE for the DL RS.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example architecture of a system of a network inaccordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example architecture of a system including a firstcore network (CN) in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 3 an architecture of a system including a second CN in accordancewith various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment in accordancewith various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a platform in accordance with variousexemplary embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry and radiofront end modules (RFEM) in accordance with various exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates components of a core network in accordance withvarious exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components of a system to supportnetwork function virtualization (NFV) according to various exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

FIG. 10 illustrates various protocol functions that may be implementedin a wireless communication device according to various exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a method of SIB measurement assisted beamreporting by a UE according to various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a method of analyzing downlink referenceresources by a UE according to various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 13 a method of determining downlink reference resources by ag-NodeB according to various exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identifythe same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposesof explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth suchas particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects ofvarious embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the variousaspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examplesthat depart from these specific details. In certain instances,descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted soas not to obscure the description of the various embodiments withunnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase“A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B).

The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference tothe following description and the related appended drawings, whereinlike elements are provided with the same reference numerals. Theexemplary embodiments may enhance SSB-based beam measurement andreporting by also measuring system information blocks (SIBs) in 5G NR.It should be noted that SIBs may be carried by a common physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) and physical downlink shared channel(PDSCH). Similarly like SSBs, SIBs are broadcast in different gNB beams,each SIB is quasi co-located (QCLed) with a SSB resource ID.Furthermore, SIB occasions are periodically allocated by the gNB in theDL. In some embodiments, the UE may measure the PDCCH demodulationreference signal (DMRS) and/or the PDSCH DMRS within a SIB, which isQCLed with a SSB candidate, so as to indirectly evaluate a gNB beamcandidate. For reporting, based on SSB measurements, as well as theQCLed SIB measurements, the UE can jointly down-select the preferred SSBIDs, which are associated with the measurement results from the QCLedSIBs, and then report this information to the gNB.

Exemplary embodiments disclosed herein may result in increasedmeasurement opportunities for SSB-based beam measurement, and thereforealso improved reliability for beam re-selection and switching. As aresult, UE mobility performance in 5G NR is improved. In order toimprove a measurement update rate and the reliability of SSB-based beammeasurement (BM) and beam reporting, especially when SSB-based BM andSSB-based radio resource management (RRM) are time-multiplexed withdifferent UE beam settings. In some embodiments, the UE may further makeuse of the SIB measurements to improve SSB-based beam measurement andreporting in 5G NR.

Systems and Implementations

FIG. 1 illustrates an example architecture of a system 1000 of a networkin accordance with various exemplary embodiments. The followingdescription is provided for an example system 1000 that operates inconjunction with the 5G NR system standards as provided by 3GPPtechnical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are notlimited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to othernetworks that benefit from the principles described herein, such aslegacy (e.g. LTE) 3GPP systems, future 3GPP systems (e.g., SixthGeneration (6G) systems), IEEE 702.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX,etc.), or the like.

As shown by FIG. 1, the system 1000 includes UE 101 a and UE 101 b(collectively referred to as “UEs 101” or “UE 101”). In this example,UEs 101 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreenmobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks),but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such asconsumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, featurephones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptopcomputers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE)devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices,onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobiledata terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS),electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine controlmodules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules,engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, MTCdevices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 101 may be IoT UEs, which maycomprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applicationsutilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologiessuch as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device viaa PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks.The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange ofdata. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which mayinclude uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within theInternet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs mayexecute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, statusupdates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.

The UEs 101 may be configured to connect, for example, communicativelycouple, with an or RAN 110. In some embodiments, the RAN 110 may be a 5GNR RAN, while in other embodiments the RAN 110 may be an E-UTRAN, or alegacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term “5G NRRAN” or the like may refer to a RAN 110 that operates in an NR or 5Gsystem 1000, and the term “E-UTRAN” or the like may refer to a RAN 110that operates in an LTE or 4G system 1000. The UEs 101 utilizeconnections (or channels) 103 and 104, respectively, each of whichcomprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed infurther detail below).

In this example, the connections 103 and 104 are illustrated as an airinterface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent withcellular communications protocols, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMAnetwork protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the othercommunications protocols discussed herein. In some embodiments, the UEs101 may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 105.The ProSe interface 105 may alternatively be referred to as a SLinterface 105 and may comprise one or more logical channels, includingbut not limited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.

The UE 101 b is shown to be configured to access an AP 106 (alsoreferred to as “WLAN node 106,” “WLAN 106,” “WLAN Termination 106,” “WT106” or the like) via connection 107. The connection 107 can comprise alocal wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE702.11 protocol, wherein the AP 106 would comprise a wireless fidelity(Wi-Fi®) router. In this example, the AP 106 is shown to be connected tothe Internet without connecting to the core network of the wirelesssystem (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, theUE 101 b, RAN 110, and AP 106 may be configured to utilize LWA operationand/or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE 101 b inRRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node 111 a-b to utilize radioresources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE 101 b usingWLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 107) via IPsec protocol tunnelingto authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over theconnection 107. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entiretyof original IP packets and adding a new packet header, therebyprotecting the original header of the IP packets.

The RAN 110 can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 111 a and 111b (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes 111” or “RAN node 111”) thatenable the connections 103 and 104. As used herein, the terms “accessnode,” “access point,” or the like may describe equipment that providesthe radio baseband functions for data and/or voice connectivity betweena network and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred toas BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth,and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) orsatellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., acell). As used herein, the term “5G NR RAN node” or the like may referto a RAN node 111 that operates in an NR or 5G system 1000 (for example,a gNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node111 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 1000 (e.g., an eNB). Accordingto various embodiments, the RAN nodes 111 may be implemented as one ormore of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station,and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocellsor other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller usercapacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In some embodiments, all or parts of the RAN nodes 111 may beimplemented as one or more software entities running on server computersas part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/ora virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN orvBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split whereinRRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocolentities are operated by individual RAN nodes 111; a MAC/PHY splitwherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUPand the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 111; or a “lowerPHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of thePHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHYlayer are operated by individual RAN nodes 111. This virtualizedframework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes 111 toperform other virtualized applications. In some implementations, anindividual RAN node 111 may represent individual gNB-DUs that areconnected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown by FIG.1). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remoteradio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., FIG. 4), and the gNB-CU may be operatedby a server that is located in the RAN 110 (not shown) or by a serverpool in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally oralternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 111 may be next generationeNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane andcontrol plane protocol terminations toward the UEs 101, and areconnected to a 5GC (e.g., CN 320 of FIG. 3) via an NG interface(discussed infra).

In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes 111 may be or act as RSUs.The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportationinfrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may beimplemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relativelystationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referredto as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may bereferred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB maybe referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In one example, an RSUis a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located ona roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 101(vUEs 101). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry tostore intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well asapplications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular andpedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct ShortRange Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low latencycommunications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance,traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSUmay operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned lowlatency communications, as well as other cellular communicationsservices. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fihotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or morecellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Thecomputing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry ofthe RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoorinstallation and may include a network interface controller to provide awired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and/ora backhaul network.

Any of the RAN nodes 111 can terminate the air interface protocol andcan be the first point of contact for the UEs 101. In some embodiments,any of the RAN nodes 111 can fulfill various logical functions for theRAN 110 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC)functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamicradio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobilitymanagement.

In some embodiments, the UEs 101 can be configured to communicate usingOFDM communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes111 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with variouscommunication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelinkcommunications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 to the UEs 101, while uplinktransmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be atime-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resourcegrid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Sucha time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDMsystems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Eachcolumn and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symboland one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource gridin the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. Thesmallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resourceelement. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, whichdescribe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements.Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in thefrequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resourcesthat currently can be allocated. There are several different physicaldownlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

According to various embodiments, the UEs 101 and the RAN nodes 111communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data over alicensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” and/or the“licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to asthe “unlicensed spectrum” and/or the “unlicensed band”). The licensedspectrum may include channels that operate in the frequency range ofapproximately 300 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas the unlicensedspectrum may include the 5 GHz band.

To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs 101 and the RAN nodes 111may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. In theseimplementations, the UEs 101 and the RAN nodes 111 may perform one ormore known medium-sensing operations and/or carrier-sensing operationsin order to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensedspectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupied prior to transmitting inthe unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carrier sensing operations may beperformed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs 101 RAN nodes111, etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel or carrier frequency)and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a specificchannel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensingoperation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine thepresence or absence of other signals on a channel in order to determineif a channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allowscellular/LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems in theunlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensingRF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time andcomparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based onIEEE 702.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel accessmechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobilestation (MS) such as UE 101, AP 106, or the like) intends to transmit,the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. Additionally, abackoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where morethan one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the sametime. The backoff mechanism may be a counter that is drawn randomlywithin the CWS, which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence ofcollision and reset to a minimum value when the transmission succeeds.The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA/CA ofWLAN. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for DL or ULtransmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions,respectively, may have an LAA contention window that is variable inlength between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimum and maximumvalues for the CWSs for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for an LAAtransmission may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWSand a MCOT (for example, a transmission burst) may be based ongovernmental regulatory requirements.

The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE-Advancedsystems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC mayhave a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of fiveCCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is1000 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can bedifferent for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lowerthan the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCscan have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, thenumber of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the samefor DL and UL.

CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs.The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because CCson different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. Aprimary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL andmay handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells arereferred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC forboth UL and DL. The SCCs may be added and removed as required, whilechanging the PCC may require the UE 101 to undergo a handover. In LAA,eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensedspectrum (referred to as “LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCells are assistedby a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configuredwith more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on theconfigured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positionswithin a same subframe.

The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 101.The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resourceallocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It mayalso inform the UEs 101 about the transport format, resource allocation,and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically,downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resourceblocks to the UE 101 b within a cell) may be performed at any of the RANnodes 111 based on channel quality information fed back from any of theUEs 101. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on thePDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 101.

The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey the control information. Before beingmapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may firstbe organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using asub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmittedusing one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to ninesets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four QuadraturePhase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCHcan be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of theDCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCHformats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregationlevel, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that usesPDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may betransmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE maycorrespond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as anEREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN nodes 111 may be configured to communicate with one another viainterface 112. In some embodiments where the system 1000 is an LTEsystem (e.g., when CN 120 is an EPC 220 as in FIG. 2), the interface 112may be an X2 interface 112. The X2 interface may be defined between twoor more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that connectto EPC 120, and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC 120. In someimplementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface(X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provideflow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2interface and may be used to communicate information about the deliveryof user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specificsequence number information for user data transferred from a MeNB to anSeNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs toa UE 101 from an SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that werenot delivered to a UE 101; information about a current minimum desiredbuffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and thelike. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality,including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user planetransport control, etc.; load management functionality; as well asinter-cell interference coordination functionality.

In some embodiments where the system 1000 is a 5G or NR system (e.g.,when CN 120 is an 5GC 320 as in FIG. 3), the interface 112 may be an Xninterface 112. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes111 (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC 120,between a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC 120 and an eNB,and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC 120. In some implementations,the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xncontrol plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteeddelivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flowcontrol functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and errorhandling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface;mobility support for UE 101 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED)including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected modebetween one or more RAN nodes 111. The mobility support may includecontext transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 111 to new(target) serving RAN node 111; and control of user plane tunnels betweenold (source) serving RAN node 111 to new (target) serving RAN node 111.A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer builton Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of aUDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stackmay include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as XnApplication Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that isbuilt on SCTP. The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may providethe guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transportIP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signalingPDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-Cprotocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or controlplane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.

The RAN 110 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—inthis embodiment, core network (CN) 120. The CN 120 may comprise aplurality of network elements 222, which are configured to offer variousdata and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g.,users of UEs 101) who are connected to the CN 120 via the RAN 110. Thecomponents of the CN 120 may be implemented in one physical node orseparate physical nodes including components to read and executeinstructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g.,a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments,NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-describednetwork node functions via executable instructions stored in one or morecomputer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). Alogical instantiation of the CN 120 may be referred to as a networkslice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 120 may bereferred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architectures andinfrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions,alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resourcescomprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storagehardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used toexecute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPCcomponents/functions.

Generally, the application server 130 may be an element offeringapplications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g.,UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 130can also be configured to support one or more communication services(e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, socialnetworking services, etc.) for the UEs 101 via the EPC 120.

In some embodiments, the CN 120 may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC 120”or the like), and the RAN 110 may be connected with the CN 120 via an NGinterface 113. In some embodiments, the NG interface 113 may be splitinto two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 114, which carriestraffic data between the RAN nodes 111 and a UPF, and the S1 controlplane (NG-C) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between theRAN nodes 111 and AMFs. Embodiments where the CN 120 is a 5GC 120 arediscussed in more detail with regard to FIG. 4.

In some embodiments, the CN 120 may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC 120”or the like), while in other embodiments, the CN 120 may be an EPC).Where CN 120 is an EPC (referred to as “EPC 120” or the like), the RAN110 may be connected with the CN 120 via an S1 interface 113. In someembodiments, the S1 interface 113 may be split into two parts, an S1user plane (S1-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between theRAN nodes 111 and the S-GW, and the S1-MME interface 115, which is asignaling interface between the RAN nodes 111 and MMEs.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example architecture of a system 200 including afirst CN 220, in accordance with various embodiments. In this example,system 200 may implement the LTE standard wherein the CN 220 is an EPC220 that corresponds with CN 120 of FIG. 1. Additionally, the UE 201 maybe the same or similar as the UEs 101 of FIG. 1, and the E-UTRAN 210 maybe a RAN that is the same or similar to the RAN 110 of FIG. 1, and whichmay include RAN nodes 111 discussed previously. The CN 220 may compriseMMEs 221, an S-GW 222, a P-GW 223, a HSS 224, and a SGSN 225.

The MMEs 221 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacySGSN and may implement MM functions to keep track of the currentlocation of a UE 201. The MMEs 221 may perform various MM procedures tomanage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and trackingarea list management. MM (also referred to as “EPS MM” or “EMM” inE-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, datastorage, etc. that are used to maintain knowledge about a presentlocation of the UE 201, provide user identity confidentiality, and/orperform other like services to users/subscribers. Each UE 201 and theMME 221 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may beestablished in the UE 201 and the MME 221 when an attach procedure issuccessfully completed. The MM context may be a data structure ordatabase object that stores MM-related information of the UE 201. TheMMEs 221 may be coupled with the HSS 224 via an S6a reference point,coupled with the SGSN 225 via an S3 reference point, and coupled withthe S-GW 222 via an S11 reference point.

The SGSN 225 may be a node that serves the UE 201 by tracking thelocation of an individual UE 201 and performing security functions. Inaddition, the SGSN 225 may perform Inter-EPC node signaling for mobilitybetween 2G/3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selectionas specified by the MMEs 221; handling of UE 201 time zone functions asspecified by the MMEs 221; and MME selection for handovers to E-UTRAN3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between the MMEs 221 and theSGSN 225 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPPaccess network mobility in idle and/or active states.

The HSS 224 may comprise a database for network users, includingsubscription-related information to support the network entities'handling of communication sessions. The EPC 220 may comprise one orseveral HSSs 224, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on thecapacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. Forexample, the HSS 224 can provide support for routing/roaming,authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, locationdependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 224 and theMMEs 221 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data forauthenticating/authorizing user access to the EPC 220 between HSS 224and the MMEs 221.

The S-GW 222 may terminate the S1 interface 113 (“S1-U” in FIG. 3)toward the RAN 210, and routes data packets between the RAN 210 and theEPC 220. In addition, the S-GW 222 may be a local mobility anchor pointfor inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor forinter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawfulintercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The S11 referencepoint between the S-GW 222 and the MMEs 221 may provide a control planebetween the MMEs 221 and the S-GW 222. The S-GW 222 may be coupled withthe P-GW 223 via an S5 reference point.

The P-GW 223 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN 230. The P-GW223 may route data packets between the EPC 220 and external networkssuch as a network including the application server 130 (alternativelyreferred to as an “AF”) via an IP interface 125 (see e.g., FIG. 1). Insome embodiments, the P-GW 223 may be communicatively coupled to anapplication server (application server 130 of FIG. 1 or PDN 230 in FIG.3) via an IP communications interface 125 (see, e.g., FIG. 1). The S5reference point between the P-GW 223 and the S-GW 222 may provide userplane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 223 and the S-GW222. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 222 relocation dueto UE 201 mobility and if the S-GW 222 needs to connect to anon-collocated P-GW 223 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 223may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging datacollection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). Additionally, the SGi referencepoint between the P-GW 223 and the packet data network (PDN) 230 may bean operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra operator packetdata network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The P-GW 223may be coupled with a PCRF 226 via a Gx reference point.

The PCRF 226 is the policy and charging control element of the EPC 220.In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 226 in the HomePublic Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE 201's InternetProtocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roamingscenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFsassociated with a UE 201's IP-CAN session, a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) withinan HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land MobileNetwork (VPLMN). The PCRF 226 may be communicatively coupled to theapplication server 230 via the P-GW 223. The application server 230 maysignal the PCRF 226 to indicate a new service flow and select theappropriate QoS and charging parameters. The PCRF 226 may provision thisrule into a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, whichcommences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server230. The Gx reference point between the PCRF 226 and the P-GW 223 mayallow for the transfer of QoS policy and charging rules from the PCRF226 to PCEF in the P-GW 223. An Rx reference point may reside betweenthe PDN 230 (or “AF 230”) and the PCRF 226.

FIG. 3 illustrates an architecture of a system 300 including a second CN320 in accordance with various embodiments. The system 300 is shown toinclude a UE 301, which may be the same or similar to the UEs 101 and UE201 discussed previously; a (R)AN 310, which may be the same or similarto the RAN 110 and RAN 210 discussed previously, and which may includeRAN nodes 111 discussed previously; and a DN 303, which may be, forexample, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a5GC 320. The 5GC 320 may include an AUSF 322; an AMF 321; a SMF 324; aNEF 323; a PCF 326; an NRF 325; a UDM 327; an AF 328; a UPF 302; and aNSSF 329.

The UPF 302 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RATmobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN 303, and abranching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 302 may alsoperform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection,enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets(UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handlingfor a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rateenforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flowmapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, andperform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notificationtriggering. UPF 302 may include an uplink classifier to support routingtraffic flows to a data network. The DN 303 may represent variousnetwork operator services, Internet access, or third party services. DN303 may include, or be similar to, application server 130 discussedpreviously. The UPF 302 may interact with the SMF 324 via an N4reference point between the SMF 324 and the UPF 302.

The AUSF 322 may store data for authentication of UE 301 and handleauthentication-related functionality. The AUSF 322 may facilitate acommon authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 322may communicate with the AMF 321 via an N12 reference point between theAMF 321 and the AUSF 322; and may communicate with the UDM 327 via anN13 reference point between the UDM 327 and the AUSF 322. Additionally,the AUSF 322 may exhibit a Nausf service-based interface.

The AMF 321 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., forregistering UE 301, etc.), connection management, reachabilitymanagement, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-relatedevents, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 321 may bea termination point for the an N11 reference point between the AMF 321and the SMF 324. The AMF 321 may provide transport for SM messagesbetween the UE 301 and the SMF 324, and act as a transparent proxy forrouting SM messages. AMF 321 may also provide transport for SMS messagesbetween UE 301 and an SMSF (not shown by FIG. 4). AMF 321 may act asSEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 322 and the UE 301,receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a result of theUE 301 authentication process. Where USIM based authentication is used,the AMF 321 may retrieve the security material from the AUSF 322. AMF321 may also include a SCM function, which receives a key from the SEAthat it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Furthermore, AMF321 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may includeor be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321; andthe AMF 321 may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signalling andperform NAS ciphering and integrity protection.

The AMF 321 may also support NAS signalling with a UE 301 over an N3 IWFinterface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrustedentities. N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 interface betweenthe (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 for the control plane and may be atermination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN 310 andthe UPF 302 for the user plane. As such, the AMF 321 may handle N2signalling from the SMF 324 and the AMF 321 for PDU sessions and QoS,encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnelling, mark N3user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated with suchmarking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlinkcontrol-plane NAS signalling between the UE 301 and AMF 321 via an N1reference point between the UE 301 and the AMF 321, and relay uplink anddownlink user-plane packets between the UE 301 and UPF 302. The N3IWFalso provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE 301.The AMF 321 may exhibit a Namf service-based interface and may be atermination point for an N14 reference point between two AMFs 321 and anN17 reference point between the AMF 321 and a 5G-EIR (not shown by FIG.4).

The UE 301 may need to register with the AMF 321 in order to receivenetwork services. RM is used to register or deregister the UE 301 withthe network (e.g., AMF 321), and establish a UE context in the network(e.g., AMF 321). The UE 301 may operate in an RM-REGISTERED state or anRM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, the UE 301 is notregistered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 321 holds novalid location or routing information for the UE 301 so the UE 301 isnot reachable by the AMF 321. In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE 301 isregistered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 321 may hold avalid location or routing information for the UE 301 so the UE 301 isreachable by the AMF 321. In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE 301 mayperform mobility Registration Update procedures, perform periodicRegistration Update procedures triggered by expiration of the periodicupdate timer (e.g., to notify the network that the UE 301 is stillactive), and perform a Registration Update procedure to update UEcapability information or to re-negotiate protocol parameters with thenetwork, among others.

The AMF 321 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 301, where eachRM context is associated with a specific access to the network. The RMcontext may be a data structure, database object, etc. that indicates orstores, inter alia, a registration state per access type and theperiodic update timer. The AMF 321 may also store a 5GC MM context thatmay be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. Invarious embodiments, the AMF 321 may store a CE mode B Restrictionparameter of the UE 301 in an associated MM context or RM context. TheAMF 321 may also derive the value, when needed, from the UE's usagesetting parameter already stored in the UE context (and/or MM/RMcontext).

CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection betweenthe UE 301 and the AMF 321 over the N1 interface. The signalingconnection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 301and the CN 320 and comprises both the signaling connection between theUE and the AN (e.g., RRC connection or UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPPaccess) and the N2 connection for the UE 301 between the AN (e.g., RAN310) and the AMF 321. The UE 301 may operate in one of two CM states,CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE 301 is operating in theCM-IDLE state/mode, the UE 301 may have no NAS signaling connectionestablished with the AMF 321 over the N1 interface, and there may be(R)AN 310 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for theUE 301. When the UE 301 is operating in the CM-CONNECTED state/mode, theUE 301 may have an established NAS signaling connection with the AMF 321over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 310 signaling connection(e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE 301. Establishment of an N2connection between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 may cause the UE 301 totransition from CM-IDLE mode to CM-CONNECTED mode, and the UE 301 maytransition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode when N2signaling between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 is released.

The SMF 324 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment,modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node);UE IP address allocation and management (including optionalauthorization); selection and control of UP function; configuringtraffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination;termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controllingpart of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events andinterface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages;downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sentvia AMF over N2 to AN; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM mayrefer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” mayrefer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables theexchange of PDUs between a UE 301 and a data network (DN) 303 identifiedby a Data Network Name (DNN). PDU sessions may be established upon UE301 request, modified upon UE 301 and 5GC 320 request, and released uponUE 301 and 5GC 320 request using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1reference point between the UE 301 and the SMF 324. Upon request from anapplication server, the 5GC 320 may trigger a specific application inthe UE 301. In response to receipt of the trigger message, the UE 301may pass the trigger message (or relevant parts/information of thetrigger message) to one or more identified applications in the UE 301.The identified application(s) in the UE 301 may establish a PDU sessionto a specific DNN. The SMF 324 may check whether the UE 301 requests arecompliant with user subscription information associated with the UE 301.In this regard, the SMF 324 may retrieve and/or request to receiveupdate notifications on SMF 324 level subscription data from the UDM327.

The SMF 324 may include the following roaming functionality: handlinglocal enforcement to apply QoS SLAs (VPLMN); charging data collectionand charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM eventsand interface to LI system); and support for interaction with externalDN for transport of signalling for PDU sessionauthorization/authentication by external DN. An N16 reference pointbetween two SMFs 324 may be included in the system 300, which may bebetween another SMF 324 in a visited network and the SMF 324 in the homenetwork in roaming scenarios. Additionally, the SMF 324 may exhibit theNsmf service-based interface.

The NEF 323 may provide means for securely exposing the services andcapabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party,internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF 328),edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, theNEF 323 may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF 323may also translate information exchanged with the AF 328 and informationexchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 323 maytranslate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GCinformation. NEF 323 may also receive information from other networkfunctions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other networkfunctions. This information may be stored at the NEF 323 as structureddata, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The storedinformation can then be re-exposed by the NEF 323 to other NFs and AFs,and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF323 may exhibit a Nnef service-based interface.

The NRF 325 may support service discovery functions, receive NFdiscovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of thediscovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 325 also maintainsinformation of available NF instances and their supported services. Asused herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like mayrefer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to aconcrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 325 may exhibit theNnrf service-based interface.

The PCF 326 may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) toenforce them and may also support unified policy framework to governnetwork behaviour. The PCF 326 may also implement an FE to accesssubscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of theUDM 327. The PCF 326 may communicate with the AMF 321 via an N15reference point between the PCF 326 and the AMF 321, which may include aPCF 326 in a visited network and the AMF 321 in case of roamingscenarios. The PCF 326 may communicate with the AF 328 via an N5reference point between the PCF 326 and the AF 328; and with the SMF 324via an N7 reference point between the PCF 326 and the SMF 324. Thesystem 300 and/or CN 320 may also include an N24 reference point betweenthe PCF 326 (in the home network) and a PCF 326 in a visited network.Additionally, the PCF 326 may exhibit a Npcf service-based interface.

The UDM 327 may handle subscription-related information to support thenetwork entities' handling of communication sessions and may storesubscription data of UE 301. For example, subscription data may becommunicated between the UDM 327 and the AMF 321 via an N8 referencepoint between the UDM 327 and the AMF. The UDM 327 may include twoparts, an application FE and a UDR (the FE and UDR are not shown by FIG.4). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 327and the PCF 326, and/or structured data for exposure and applicationdata (including PFDs for application detection, application requestinformation for multiple UEs 301) for the NEF 323. The Nudrservice-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM327, PCF 326, and NEF 323 to access a particular set of the stored data,as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe tonotification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include aUDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, locationmanagement, subscription management and so on. Several different frontends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FEaccesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performsauthentication credential processing, user identification handling,access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscriptionmanagement. The UDR may interact with the SMF 324 via an N10 referencepoint between the UDM 327 and the SMF 324. UDM 327 may also support SMSmanagement, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similar application logicas discussed previously. Additionally, the UDM 327 may exhibit the Nudmservice-based interface.

The AF 328 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provideaccess to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policycontrol. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC 320 and AF 328to provide information to each other via NEF 323, which may be used foredge computing implementations. In such implementations, the networkoperator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE 301access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service deliverythrough the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transportnetwork. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC may select a UPF302 close to the UE 301 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 302 toDN 303 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscriptiondata, UE location, and information provided by the AF 328. In this way,the AF 328 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based onoperator deployment, when AF 328 is considered to be a trusted entity,the network operator may permit AF 328 to interact directly withrelevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 328 may exhibit a Naf service-basedinterface.

The NSSF 329 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE301. The NSSF 329 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping tothe subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 329 may also determine theAMF set to be used to serve the UE 301, or a list of candidate AMF(s)321 based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF325. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 301may be triggered by the AMF 321 with which the UE 301 is registered byinteracting with the NSSF 329, which may lead to a change of AMF 321.The NSSF 329 may interact with the AMF 321 via an N22 reference pointbetween AMF 321 and NSSF 329; and may communicate with another NSSF 329in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown by FIG. 4).Additionally, the NSSF 329 may exhibit a Nnssf service-based interface.

As discussed previously, the CN 320 may include an SMSF, which may beresponsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relayingSM messages to/from the UE 301 to/from other entities, such as anSMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. The SMS may also interact with AMF 321 andUDM 327 for a notification procedure that the UE 301 is available forSMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM 327when UE 301 is available for SMS).

The CN 120 may also include other elements that are not shown by FIG. 4,such as a Data Storage system/architecture, a 5G-EIR, a SEPP, and thelike. The Data Storage system may include a SDSF, an UDSF, and/or thelike. Any NF may store and retrieve unstructured data into/from the UDSF(e.g., UE contexts), via N18 reference point between any NF and the UDSF(not shown by FIG. 4). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing theirrespective unstructured data or individual NFs may each have their ownUDSF located at or near the individual NFs. Additionally, the UDSF mayexhibit a Nudsf service-based interface (not shown by FIG. 4). The5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of PEI for determiningwhether particular equipment/entities are blacklisted from the network;and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topologyhiding, message filtering, and policing on inter-PLMN control planeinterfaces.

Additionally, there may be many more reference points and/orservice-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs; however,these interfaces and reference points have been omitted from FIG. 4 forclarity. In one example, the CN 320 may include an Nx interface, whichis an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME 221) and the AMF 321in order to enable interworking between CN 320 and CN 220. Other exampleinterfaces/reference points may include an N5g-EIR service-basedinterface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between the NRFin the visited network and the NRF in the home network; and an N31reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF inthe home network.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment 400 inaccordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment 400(or “system 400”) may be implemented as a base station, radio head, RANnode such as the RAN nodes 111 and/or AP 106 shown and describedpreviously, application server(s) 130, and/or any other element/devicediscussed herein. In other examples, the system 400 could be implementedin or by a UE.

The system 400 includes application circuitry 405, baseband circuitry410, one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs) 415, memory circuitry420, power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 425, power teecircuitry 430, network controller circuitry 435, network interfaceconnector 440, satellite positioning circuitry 445, and user interface450. In some embodiments, the device 400 may include additional elementssuch as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, orinput/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the componentsdescribed below may be included in more than one device. For example,said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device forCRAN, vBBU, or other like implementations.

Application circuitry 405 includes circuitry such as, but not limited toone or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers,serial interfaces such as SPI, I²C or universal programmable serialinterface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters includinginterval and watchdog timers, general purpose input/output (I/O or IO),memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC)or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile IndustryProcessor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG)test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 405 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elementsand may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system 400. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 405 may include, for example,one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors,one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISCMachine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing(CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSP), one ormore FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or moremicroprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. Insome embodiments, the application circuitry 405 may comprise, or may be,a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to thevarious embodiments herein. As examples, the processor(s) of applicationcircuitry 405 may include one or more Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon®processor(s); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s),Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Epyc® processors; ARM-basedprocessor(s) licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-Afamily of processors and the ThunderX2® provided by Cavium™, Inc.; aMIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS WarriorP-class processors; and/or the like. In some embodiments, the system 400may not utilize application circuitry 405, and instead may include aspecial-purpose processor/controller to process IP data received from anEPC or 5GC, for example.

In some implementations, the application circuitry 405 may include oneor more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors,programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardwareaccelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deeplearning (DL) accelerators. As examples, the programmable processingdevices may be one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such asfield-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logicdevices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs(HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like;programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, thecircuitry of application circuitry 405 may comprise logic blocks orlogic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmedto perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods,functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In suchembodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry 405 may includememory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM),anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc.in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like.

The baseband circuitry 410 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 410 arediscussed infra with regard to FIG. 6.

User interface circuitry 450 may include one or more user interfacesdesigned to enable user interaction with the system 400 or peripheralcomponent interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interactionwith the system 400. User interfaces may include, but are not limitedto, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), oneor more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physicalkeyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers orother audio emitting devices, microphones, a printer, a scanner, aheadset, a display screen or display device, etc. Peripheral componentinterfaces may include, but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memoryport, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

The radio front end modules (RFEMs) 415 may comprise a millimeter wave(mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integratedcircuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWaveRFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs mayinclude connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g.,antenna array 611 of FIG. 6 infra), and the RFEM may be connected tomultiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave andsub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM415, which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 420 may include one or more of volatile memoryincluding dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc., and may incorporate thethree-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® andMicron®. Memory circuitry 420 may be implemented as one or more ofsolder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules andplug-in memory cards.

The PMIC 425 may include voltage regulators, surge protectors, poweralarm detection circuitry, and one or more backup power sources such asa battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuitry may detectone or more of brown out (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage)conditions. The power tee circuitry 430 may provide for electrical powerdrawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and dataconnectivity to the infrastructure equipment 400 using a single cable.

The network controller circuitry 435 may provide connectivity to anetwork using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet,Ethernet over GRE Tunnels, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching(MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may beprovided to/from the infrastructure equipment 400 via network interfaceconnector 440 using a physical connection, which may be electrical(commonly referred to as a “copper interconnect”), optical, or wireless.The network controller circuitry 435 may include one or more dedicatedprocessors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of theaforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the networkcontroller circuitry 435 may include multiple controllers to provideconnectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

The positioning circuitry 445 includes circuitry to receive and decodesignals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a globalnavigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satelliteconstellations (or GNSS) include United States' Global PositioningSystem (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the EuropeanUnion's Galileo system, China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, aregional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigationwith Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System(QZSS), France's Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integratedby Satellite (DORIS), etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry 445comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devicessuch as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like tofacilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of apositioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes.In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry 445 may include aMicro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) ICthat uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimationwithout GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 445 may also be partof, or interact with, the baseband circuitry 410 and/or RFEMs 415 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 445 may also provide position data and/or timedata to the application circuitry 405, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes 111,etc.), or the like.

The components shown by FIG. 4 may communicate with one another usinginterface circuitry, which may include any number of bus and/orinterconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard architecture(ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI),peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe),or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietarybus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems maybe included, such as an I²C interface, an SPI interface, point to pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a platform 500 (or “device 500”) inaccordance with various embodiments. In some embodiments, the computerplatform 500 may be suitable for use as UEs 101, 201, 301, applicationservers 130, and/or any other element/device discussed herein. Theplatform 500 may include any combinations of the components shown in theexample. The components of platform 500 may be implemented as integratedcircuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or othermodules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereofadapted in the computer platform 500, or as components otherwiseincorporated within a chassis of a larger system. The block diagram ofFIG. 5 is intended to show a high level view of components of thecomputer platform 500. However, some of the components shown may beomitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangementof the components shown may occur in other implementations.

Application circuitry 505 includes circuitry such as, but not limited toone or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I²Cor universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-countersincluding interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory cardcontrollers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces,and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 505 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elementsand may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system 500. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 405 may include, for example,one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one ormore GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, oneor more CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or morePLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, amultithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embeddedprocessor, some other known processing element, or any suitablecombination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry 405may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller tooperate according to the various embodiments herein.

As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry 505 may includean Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, anAtom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another suchprocessor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. Theprocessors of the application circuitry 505 may also be one or more ofAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or AcceleratedProcessing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc.,Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., TexasInstruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such asMIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors;an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARMCortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. Insome implementations, the application circuitry 505 may be a part of asystem on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry 505 and othercomponents are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a singlepackage, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel®Corporation.

Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry 505 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmabledevices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logic devices(PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), andthe like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs(PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of applicationcircuitry 505 may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and otherinterconnected resources that may be programmed to perform variousfunctions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of thevarious embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitryof application circuitry 505 may include memory cells (e.g., erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory(e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used tostore logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs)and the like.

The baseband circuitry 510 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 510 arediscussed infra with regard to FIG. 6.

The RFEMs 515 may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one ormore sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In someimplementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physicallyseparated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to oneor more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array 611 of FIG.6 infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. Inalternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functionsmay be implemented in the same physical RFEM 515, which incorporatesboth mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 520 may include any number and type of memorydevices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. Asexamples, the memory circuitry 520 may include one or more of volatilememory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/orsynchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuitry 520 may bedeveloped in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices EngineeringCouncil (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such asLPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or the like. Memory circuitry 520 may beimplemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits,single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package(Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs)including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboardvia a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memorycircuitry 520 may be on-die memory or registers associated with theapplication circuitry 505. To provide for persistent storage ofinformation such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth,memory circuitry 520 may include one or more mass storage devices, whichmay include, inter alia, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), hard diskdrive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase changememories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others. Forexample, the computer platform 500 may incorporate the three-dimensional(3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®.

Removable memory circuitry 523 may include devices, circuitry,enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to couple portabledata storage devices with the platform 500. These portable data storagedevices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, forexample, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSDcards, xD picture cards, and the like), and USB flash drives, opticaldiscs, external HDDs, and the like.

The platform 500 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) thatis used to connect external devices with the platform 500. The externaldevices connected to the platform 500 via the interface circuitryinclude sensor circuitry 521 and electro-mechanical components (EMCs)522, as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memorycircuitry 523.

The sensor circuitry 521 include devices, modules, or subsystems whosepurpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send theinformation (sensor data) about the detected events to some other adevice, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, interalia, inertia measurement units (IMUs) comprising accelerometers,gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axisaccelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level sensors;flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors;barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capturedevices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection andranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiationdetector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonictransceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.

EMCs 522 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is toenable platform 500 to change its state, position, and/or orientation,or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs 522may be configured to generate and send messages/signalling to othercomponents of the platform 500 to indicate a current state of the EMCs522. Examples of the EMCs 522 include one or more power switches, relaysincluding electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid state relays(SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible soundgenerator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, steppermotors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks,and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In some embodiments,platform 500 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 522 based on oneor more captured events and/or instructions or control signals receivedfrom a service provider and/or various clients.

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 500 with positioning circuitry 545. The positioning circuitry545 includes circuitry to receive and decode signalstransmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples ofnavigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States'GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China'sBeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSSaugmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.),or the like. The positioning circuitry 545 comprises various hardwareelements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters,amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTAcommunications) to communicate with components of a positioning network,such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments,the positioning circuitry 545 may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses amaster timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSSassistance. The positioning circuitry 545 may also be part of, orinteract with, the baseband circuitry 410 and/or RFEMs 515 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 545 may also provide position data and/or timedata to the application circuitry 505, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio basestations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like.

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 500 with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry 540. NFCcircuitry 540 is configured to provide contactless, short-rangecommunications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards,wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication betweenNFC circuitry 540 and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform 500(e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”). NFC circuitry 540 comprises an NFCcontroller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled withthe NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFCfunctionalities to the NFC circuitry 540 by executing NFC controllerfirmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by theprocessor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmwaremay be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element toemit short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag(e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmitstored data to the NFC circuitry 540, or initiate data transfer betweenthe NFC circuitry 540 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphoneor an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform 500.

The driver circuitry 546 may include software and hardware elements thatoperate to control particular devices that are embedded in the platform500, attached to the platform 500, or otherwise communicatively coupledwith the platform 500. The driver circuitry 546 may include individualdrivers allowing other components of the platform 500 to interact withor control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be presentwithin, or connected to, the platform 500. For example, driver circuitry546 may include a display driver to control and allow access to adisplay device, a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to atouchscreen interface of the platform 500, sensor drivers to obtainsensor readings of sensor circuitry 521 and control and allow access tosensor circuitry 521, EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of theEMCs 522 and/or control and allow access to the EMCs 522, a cameradriver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device,audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices.

The power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 525 (also referred toas “power management circuitry 525”) may manage power provided tovarious components of the platform 500. In particular, with respect tothe baseband circuitry 510, the PMIC 525 may control power-sourceselection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion.The PMIC 525 may often be included when the platform 500 is capable ofbeing powered by a battery 530, for example, when the device is includedin a UE 101, 201, 301.

In some embodiments, the PMIC 525 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the platform 500. For example, if theplatform 500 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connectedto the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it mayenter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a periodof inactivity. During this state, the platform 500 may power down forbrief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data trafficactivity for an extended period of time, then the platform 500 maytransition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from thenetwork and does not perform operations such as channel qualityfeedback, handover, etc. The platform 500 goes into a very low powerstate and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up tolisten to the network and then powers down again. The platform 500 maynot receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it musttransition back to RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving modemay allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longerthan a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). Duringthis time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and maypower down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a largedelay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

A battery 530 may power the platform 500, although in some examples theplatform 500 may be mounted deployed in a fixed location and may have apower supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 530 may be alithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, analuminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like. In someimplementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 530 may be atypical lead-acid automotive battery.

In some implementations, the battery 530 may be a “smart battery,” whichincludes or is coupled with a Battery Management System (BMS) or batterymonitoring integrated circuitry. The BMS may be included in the platform500 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 530. The BMS maybe used to monitor other parameters of the battery 530 to providefailure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state offunction (SoF) of the battery 530. The BMS may communicate theinformation of the battery 530 to the application circuitry 505 or othercomponents of the platform 500. The BMS may also include ananalog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry505 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 530 or the currentflow from the battery 530. The battery parameters may be used todetermine actions that the platform 500 may perform, such astransmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and thelike.

A power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid maybe coupled with the BMS to charge the battery 530. In some examples, thepower block XS30 may be replaced with a wireless power receiver toobtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in thecomputer platform 500. In these examples, a wireless battery chargingcircuit may be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuitschosen may depend on the size of the battery 530, and thus, the currentrequired. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standardpromulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standardpromulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence chargingstandard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others.

User interface circuitry 550 includes various input/output (I/O) devicespresent within, or connected to, the platform 500, and includes one ormore user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with theplatform 500 and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enableperipheral component interaction with the platform 500. The userinterface circuitry 550 includes input device circuitry and outputdevice circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or morephysical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard,keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset,and/or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for showing information or otherwise conveyinginformation, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or otherlike information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/orcombinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one ormore simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators(e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs,or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g.,Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays,projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimediaobjects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation ofthe platform 500. The output device circuitry may also include speakersor other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In someembodiments, the sensor circuitry 521 may be used as the input devicecircuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or thelike) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry(e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In anotherexample, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with anantenna element and a processing device may be included to readelectronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device.Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, anon-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

Although not shown, the components of platform 500 may communicate withone another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, whichmay include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx,PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or anynumber of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX,for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may beincluded, such as an I²C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 6 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry 610 andradio front end modules (RFEM) 615 in accordance with variousembodiments. The baseband circuitry 610 corresponds to the basebandcircuitry 410 and 510 of FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively. The RFEM 615corresponds to the RFEM 415 and 515 of FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively. Asshown, the RFEMs 615 may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 606,front-end module (FEM) circuitry 608, antenna array 611 coupled togetherat least as shown.

The baseband circuitry 610 includes circuitry and/or control logicconfigured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio controlfunctions that enable communication with one or more radio networks viathe RF circuitry 606. The radio control functions may include, but arenot limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radiofrequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulationcircuitry of the baseband circuitry 610 may include Fast-FourierTransform (FFT), preceding, or constellation mapping/demappingfunctionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 610 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution,turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoderfunctionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation andencoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and mayinclude other suitable functionality in other embodiments. The basebandcircuitry 610 is configured to process baseband signals received from areceive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate basebandsignals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606. The basebandcircuitry 610 is configured to interface with application circuitry405/505 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) for generation and processing of thebaseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 606.The baseband circuitry 610 may handle various radio control functions.

The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the basebandcircuitry 610 may include one or more single or multi-core processors.For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G basebandprocessor 604A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor 604B, a 5G/NR basebandprocessor 604C, or some other baseband processor(s) 604D for otherexisting generations, generations in development or to be developed inthe future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments,some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 604A-D may beincluded in modules stored in the memory 604G and executed via a CentralProcessing Unit (CPU) 604E. In other embodiments, some or all of thefunctionality of baseband processors 604A-D may be provided as hardwareaccelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with the appropriate bitstreams or logic blocks stored in respective memory cells. In variousembodiments, the memory 604G may store program code of a real-time OS(RTOS), which when executed by the CPU 604E (or other basebandprocessor), is to cause the CPU 604E (or other baseband processor) tomanage resources of the baseband circuitry 610, schedule tasks, etc.Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded (OSE)™provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics®, VersatileReal-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®, ThreadX™provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by Qualcomm®, OKL4provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any other suitable RTOS, such asthose discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuitry 610 includesone or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 604F. The audioDSP(s) 604F include elements for compression/decompression and echocancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in otherembodiments.

In some embodiments, each of the processors 604A-604D include respectivememory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory 604G. Thebaseband circuitry 610 may further include one or more interfaces tocommunicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as aninterface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the basebandcircuitry 610; an application circuitry interface to send/receive datato/from the application circuitry 405/505 of FIGS. 4-6); an RF circuitryinterface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 606 of FIG. 6; awireless hardware connectivity interface to send/receive data to/fromone or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., Near Field Communication(NFC) components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy components, Wi-Fi®components, and/or the like); and a power management interface tosend/receive power or control signals to/from the PMIC 525.

In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above describedembodiments), baseband circuitry 610 comprises one or more digitalbaseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnectsubsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interfacesubsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to adigital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem viaanother interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems mayinclude a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC)structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology,such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSPcircuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing acceleratorcircuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital anddigital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one ormore of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components. In anaspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry 610 may includeprotocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of controlcircuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digitalbaseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radiofront end modules 615).

Although not shown by FIG. 6, in some embodiments, the basebandcircuitry 610 includes individual processing device(s) to operate one ormore wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocol basebandprocessor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individual processingdevice(s) to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, thePHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions.In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates orimplements various protocol layers/entities of one or more wirelesscommunication protocols. In a first example, the protocol processingcircuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or 5G/NR protocolentities when the baseband circuitry 610 and/or RF circuitry 606 arepart of mmWave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellularcommunication circuitry. In the first example, the protocol processingcircuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. Ina second example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one ormore IEEE-based protocols when the baseband circuitry 610 and/or RFcircuitry 606 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system. In the secondexample, the protocol processing circuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC andlogical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitrymay include one or more memory structures (e.g., 604G) to store programcode and data for operating the protocol functions, as well as one ormore processing cores to execute the program code and perform variousoperations using the data. The baseband circuitry 610 may also supportradio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry 610 discussedherein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrateincluding one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged ICsoldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing twoor more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry610 may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset or disposed ona same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the constituentcomponents of the baseband circuitry 610 and RF circuitry 606 may beimplemented together such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) orSystem-in-Package (SiP). In another example, some or all of theconstituent components of the baseband circuitry 610 may be implementedas a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with and RF circuitry606 (or multiple instances of RF circuitry 606). In yet another example,some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 610and the application circuitry 405/505 may be implemented together asindividual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board (e.g., a “multi-chippackage”).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 610 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 610 may supportcommunication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodimentsin which the baseband circuitry 610 is configured to support radiocommunications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to asmulti-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork. RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path, which mayinclude circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEMcircuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry610. RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path, which mayinclude circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by thebaseband circuitry 610 and provide RF output signals to the FEMcircuitry 608 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 mayinclude mixer circuitry 606 a, amplifier circuitry 606 b and filtercircuitry 606 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RFcircuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606 c and mixer circuitry 606a. RF circuitry 606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606 d forsynthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606 a of thereceive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments,the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path may be configuredto down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 based onthe synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 606 d. Theamplifier circuitry 606 b may be configured to amplify thedown-converted signals and the filter circuitry 606 c may be a low-passfilter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwantedsignals from the down-converted signals to generate output basebandsignals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the basebandcircuitry 610 for further processing. In some embodiments, the outputbaseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although thisis not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 606 a of thereceive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signalpath may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606 d togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 608. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 610 and may befiltered by filter circuitry 606 c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signalpath and the mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signal path mayinclude two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedownconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, themixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry606 a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and maybe arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path andthe mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signal path may be arrangedfor direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path andthe mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signal path may be configuredfor super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RFcircuitry 606 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry610 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 606.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be afractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other typesof frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizercircuitry 606 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequencymultiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with afrequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be configured to synthesize anoutput frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606 a of the RFcircuitry 606 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. Insome embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be a fractionalN/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 610 orthe application circuitry 405/505 depending on the desired outputfrequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by theapplication circuitry 405/505.

Synthesizer circuitry 606 d of the RF circuitry 606 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulusdivider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phaseaccumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured todivide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out)to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, theDLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phasedetector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments,the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Ndequal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in thedelay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to helpensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path, which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antennaarray 611, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 606 for furtherprocessing. FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path,which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one ormore of antenna elements of antenna array 611. In various embodiments,the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may bedone solely in the RF circuitry 606, solely in the FEM circuitry 608, orin both the RF circuitry 606 and the FEM circuitry 608.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 608 may include a TX/RX switch toswitch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 608 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include anLNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RFsignals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 606). The transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a power amplifier (PA)to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 606), andone or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmissionby one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 611.

The antenna array 611 comprises one or more antenna elements, each ofwhich is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves totravel through the air and to convert received radio waves intoelectrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided bythe baseband circuitry 610 is converted into analog RF signals (e.g.,modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via theantenna elements of the antenna array 611 including one or more antennaelements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional,direction, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formedin a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. Theantenna array 611 may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennasthat are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuitboards. The antenna array 611 may be formed in as a patch of metal foil(e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled withthe RF circuitry 606 and/or FEM circuitry 608 using metal transmissionlines or the like.

Processors of the application circuitry 405/505 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 610 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 610, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 405/505 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received fromthese layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP andUDP layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer,described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 maycomprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described infurther detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHYlayer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

FIG. 7 illustrates components of a core network (e.g., CN 220) inaccordance with various embodiments. The components of the CN 220 may beimplemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes includingcomponents to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable orcomputer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium). In some embodiments, the components of CN 220 may beimplemented in a same or similar manner as discussed herein with regardto the components of CN 220. In some embodiments, NFV is utilized tovirtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions viaexecutable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storagemediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation ofthe CN 220 may be referred to as a network slice 701, and individuallogical instantiations of the CN 220 may provide specific networkcapabilities and network characteristics. A logical instantiation of aportion of the CN 220 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 702(e.g., the network sub-slice 702 is shown to include the P-GW 223 andthe PCRF 226).

As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the likemay refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer toa concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code. A network instance may refer to informationidentifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection androuting in case of different IP domains or overlapping IP addresses. Anetwork slice instance may refer to a set of network functions (NFs)instances and the resources (e.g., compute, storage, and networkingresources) required to deploy the network slice.

With respect to 5G systems (see, e.g., FIG. 4), a network slicecomprises a RAN part and a CN part. The support of network slicingrelies on the principle that traffic for different slices is handled bydifferent PDU sessions. The network can realize the different networkslices by scheduling and also by providing different L1/L2configurations. The UE 301 provides assistance information for networkslice selection in an appropriate RRC message, if it has been providedby NAS. While the network can support large number of slices, the UEneed not support more than 8 slices simultaneously.

A network slice may include the CN 320 control plane and user plane NFs,NG-RANs 310 in a serving PLMN, and a N3IWF functions in the servingPLMN. Individual network slices may have different S-NSSAI and/or mayhave different SSTs. NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and eachnetwork slice is uniquely identified by an S-NSSAI. Network slices maydiffer for supported features and network functions optimizations,and/or multiple network slice instances may deliver the sameservice/features but for different groups of UEs 301 (e.g., enterpriseusers). For example, individual network slices may deliver differentcommitted service(s) and/or may be dedicated to a particular customer orenterprise. In this example, each network slice may have differentS-NSSAIs with the same SST but with different slice differentiators.Additionally, a single UE may be served with one or more network sliceinstances simultaneously via a 5G AN and associated with eight differentS-NSSAIs. Moreover, an AMF 321 instance serving an individual UE 301 maybelong to each of the network slice instances serving that UE.

Network Slicing in the NG-RAN 310 involves RAN slice awareness. RANslice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic fordifferent network slices, which have been pre-configured. Sliceawareness in the NG-RAN 310 is introduced at the PDU session level byindicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to a PDU session in all signalingthat includes PDU session resource information. How the NG-RAN 310supports the slice enabling in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., the setof network functions that comprise each slice) is implementationdependent. The NG-RAN 310 selects the RAN part of the network sliceusing assistance information provided by the UE 301 or the 5GC 320,which unambiguously identifies one or more of the pre-configured networkslices in the PLMN. The NG-RAN 310 also supports resource management andpolicy enforcement between slices as per SLAs. A single NG-RAN node maysupport multiple slices, and the NG-RAN 310 may also apply anappropriate RRM policy for the SLA in place to each supported slice. TheNG-RAN 310 may also support QoS differentiation within a slice.

The NG-RAN 310 may also use the UE assistance information for theselection of an AMF 321 during an initial attach, if available. TheNG-RAN 310 uses the assistance information for routing the initial NASto an AMF 321. If the NG-RAN 310 is unable to select an AMF 321 usingthe assistance information, or the UE 301 does not provide any suchinformation, the NG-RAN 310 sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF321, which may be among a pool of AMFs 321. For subsequent accesses, theUE 301 provides a temp ID, which is assigned to the UE 301 by the 5GC320, to enable the NG-RAN 310 to route the NAS message to theappropriate AMF 321 as long as the temp ID is valid. The NG-RAN 310 isaware of, and can reach, the AMF 321 that is associated with the tempID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies.

The NG-RAN 310 supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN 310resource isolation may be achieved by means of RRM policies andprotection mechanisms that should avoid that shortage of sharedresources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for anotherslice. In some implementations, it is possible to fully dedicate NG-RAN310 resources to a certain slice. How NG-RAN 310 supports resourceisolation is implementation dependent.

Some slices may be available only in part of the network. Awareness inthe NG-RAN 310 of the slices supported in the cells of its neighbors maybe beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. The sliceavailability may not change within the UE's registration area. TheNG-RAN 310 and the 5GC 320 are responsible to handle a service requestfor a slice that may or may not be available in a given area. Admissionor rejection of access to a slice may depend on factors such as supportfor the slice, availability of resources, support of the requestedservice by NG-RAN 310.

The UE 301 may be associated with multiple network slicessimultaneously. In case the UE 301 is associated with multiple slicessimultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and forintra-frequency cell reselection, the UE 301 tries to camp on the bestcell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities can beused to control the frequency on which the UE 301 camps. The 5GC 320 isto validate that the UE 301 has the rights to access a network slice.Prior to receiving an Initial Context Setup Request message, the NG-RAN310 may be allowed to apply some provisional/local policies, based onawareness of a particular slice that the UE 301 is requesting to access.During the initial context setup, the NG-RAN 310 is informed of theslice for which resources are being requested.

NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one ormore NFs, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physicalresources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware,storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be usedto execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPCcomponents/functions.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, of a system 800 to support NFV. The system 800 isillustrated as including a VIM 802, an NFVI 804, an VNFM 806, VNFs 808,an EM 810, an NFVO 812, and a NM 814.

The VIM 802 manages the resources of the NFVI 804. The NFVI 804 caninclude physical or virtual resources and applications (includinghypervisors) used to execute the system 800. The VIM 802 may manage thelife cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI 804 (e.g., creation,maintenance, and tear down of VMs associated with one or more physicalresources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security ofVM instances and associated physical resources and expose VM instancesand associated physical resources to other management systems.

The VNFM 806 may manage the VNFs 808. The VNFs 808 may be used toexecute EPC components/functions. The VNFM 806 may manage the life cycleof the VNFs 808 and track performance, fault and security of the virtualaspects of VNFs 808. The EM 810 may track the performance, fault andsecurity of the functional aspects of VNFs 808. The tracking data fromthe VNFM 806 and the EM 810 may comprise, for example, PM data used bythe VIM 802 or the NFVI 804. Both the VNFM 806 and the EM 810 can scaleup/down the quantity of VNFs of the system 800.

The NFVO 812 may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources ofthe NFVI 804 in order to provide the requested service (e.g., to executean EPC function, component, or slice). The NM 814 may provide a packageof end-user functions with the responsibility for the management of anetwork, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualizednetwork functions, or both (management of the VNFs may occur via the EM810).

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 9 shows a diagrammaticrepresentation of hardware resources 900 including one or moreprocessors (or processor cores) 910, one or more memory/storage devices920, and one or more communication resources 930, each of which may becommunicatively coupled via a bus 940. For embodiments where nodevirtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 902 may be executedto provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 900.

The processors 910 may include, for example, a processor 912 and aprocessor 914. The processor(s) 910 may be, for example, a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC)processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, agraphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, anASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), anotherprocessor (including those discussed herein), or any suitablecombination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 920 may include main memory, disk storage, orany suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 920 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 930 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 904 or one or more databases 906 via anetwork 908. For example, the communication resources 930 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellularcommunication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® LowEnergy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents.

Instructions 950 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 910 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussedherein. The instructions 950 may reside, completely or partially, withinat least one of the processors 910 (e.g., within the processor's cachememory), the memory/storage devices 920, or any suitable combinationthereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 950 may betransferred to the hardware resources 900 from any combination of theperipheral devices 904 or the databases 906. Accordingly, the memory ofprocessors 910, the memory/storage devices 920, the peripheral devices904, and the databases 906 are examples of computer-readable andmachine-readable media.

FIG. 10 illustrates various protocol functions that may be implementedin a wireless communication device according to various embodiments. Inparticular, FIG. 10 includes an arrangement 1000 showinginterconnections between various protocol layers/entities. The followingdescription of FIG. 10 is provided for various protocol layers/entitiesthat operate in conjunction with the 5G/NR system standards and LTEsystem standards, but some or all of the aspects of FIG. 10 may beapplicable to other wireless communication network systems as well.

The protocol layers of arrangement 1000 may include one or more of PHY1010, MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040, SDAP 1047, RRC 1055, and NAS layer1057, in addition to other higher layer functions not illustrated. Theprotocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g.,items 1059, 1056, 1050, 1049, 1045, 1035, 1025, and 1015 in FIG. 10)that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers.

The PHY 1010 may transmit and receive physical layer signals 1005 thatmay be received from or transmitted to one or more other communicationdevices. The physical layer signals 1005 may comprise one or morephysical channels, such as those discussed herein. The PHY 1010 mayfurther perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC),power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization andhandover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, suchas the RRC 1055. The PHY 1010 may still further perform error detectionon the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC)coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation ofphysical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physicalchannels, and MIMO antenna processing. In some embodiments, an instanceof PHY 1010 may process requests from and provide indications to aninstance of MAC 1020 via one or more PHY-SAP 1015. According to someembodiments, requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP 1015 maycomprise one or more transport channels.

Instance(s) of MAC 1020 may process requests from, and provideindications to, an instance of RLC 1030 via one or more MAC-SAPs 1025.These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP 1025 maycomprise one or more logical channels. The MAC 1020 may perform mappingbetween the logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MACSDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY1010 via the transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or morelogical channels from TBs delivered from the PHY 1010 via transportchannels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling informationreporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channelprioritization.

Instance(s) of RLC 1030 may process requests from and provideindications to an instance of PDCP 1040 via one or more radio linkcontrol service access points (RLC-SAP) 1035. These requests andindications communicated via RLC-SAP 1035 may comprise one or more RLCchannels. The RLC 1030 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation,including: Transparent Mode™, Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and AcknowledgedMode (AM). The RLC 1030 may execute transfer of upper layer protocoldata units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request(ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation andreassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC 1030 mayalso execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers,reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicatedata for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM datatransfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLCre-establishment.

Instance(s) of PDCP 1040 may process requests from and provideindications to instance(s) of RRC 1055 and/or instance(s) of SDAP 1047via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points(PDCP-SAP) 1045. These requests and indications communicated viaPDCP-SAP 1045 may comprise one or more radio bearers. The PDCP 1040 mayexecute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCPSequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUsat re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layerSDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLCAM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protectionand integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-baseddiscard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering,deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

Instance(s) of SDAP 1047 may process requests from and provideindications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one ormore SDAP-SAP 1049. These requests and indications communicated viaSDAP-SAP 1049 may comprise one or more QoS flows. The SDAP 1047 may mapQoS flows to DRBs, and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and ULpackets. A single SDAP entity 1047 may be configured for an individualPDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN 110 may control the mappingof QoS Flows to DRB(s) in two different ways, reflective mapping orexplicit mapping. For reflective mapping, the SDAP 1047 of a UE 101 maymonitor the QFIs of the DL packets for each DRB and may apply the samemapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP1047 of the UE 101 may map the UL packets belonging to the QoS flows(s)corresponding to the QoS flow ID(s) and PDU session observed in the DLpackets for that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 310 maymark DL packets over the Uu interface with a QoS flow ID. The explicitmapping may involve the RRC 1055 configuring the SDAP 1047 with anexplicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which may be stored and followedby the SDAP 1047. In some embodiments, the SDAP 1047 may only be used inNR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

The RRC 1055 may configure, via one or more management service accesspoints (M-SAP), aspects of one or more protocol layers, which mayinclude one or more instances of PHY 1010, MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040and SDAP 1047. In some embodiments, an instance of RRC 1055 may processrequests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities 1057via one or more RRC-SAPs 1056. The main services and functions of theRRC 1055 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included inMIBs or SIBs related to the NAS), broadcast of system informationrelated to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenanceand release of an RRC connection between the UE 101 and RAN 110 (e.g.,RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connectionmodification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration,maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, securityfunctions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurementconfiguration for UE measurement reporting. The MIBs and SIBs maycomprise one or more IEs, which may each comprise individual data fieldsor data structures.

The NAS 1057 may form the highest stratum of the control plane betweenthe UE 101 and the AMF 321. The NAS 1057 may support the mobility of theUEs 101 and the session management procedures to establish and maintainIP connectivity between the UE 101 and a P-GW in LTE systems.

According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities ofarrangement 1000 may be implemented in UEs 101, RAN nodes 111, AMF 321in NR implementations or MME 221 in LTE implementations, UPF 302 in NRimplementations or S-GW 222 and P-GW 223 in LTE implementations, or thelike to be used for control plane or user plane communications protocolstack between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one ormore protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 101,gNB 111, AMF 321, etc. may communicate with a respective peer protocolentity that may be implemented in or on another device using theservices of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform suchcommunication. In some embodiments, a gNB-CU of the gNB 111 may host theRRC 1055, SDAP 1047, and PDCP 1040 of the gNB that controls theoperation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of the gNB 111 mayeach host the RLC 1030, MAC 1020, and PHY 1110 of the gNB 111.

In a first example, a control plane protocol stack may comprise, inorder from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS 1157, RRC 1155, PDCP 1040,RLC 1030, MAC 1120, and PHY 1110. In this example, upper layers 1060 maybe built on top of the NAS 1157, which includes an IP layer 1061, anSCTP 1062, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1063.

In NR implementations, the AP 1063 may be an NG application protocollayer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1063 for the NG interface 113 defined between theNG-RAN node 111 and the AMF 321, or the AP 1063 may be an Xn applicationprotocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1063 for the Xn interface 112 that isdefined between two or more RAN nodes 111.

The NG-AP 1063 may support the functions of the NG interface 113 and maycomprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An NG-AP EP may be a unit ofinteraction between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF 321. The NG-AP 1063services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., servicesrelated to a UE 101) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., servicesrelated to the whole NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 111and AMF 321). These services may include functions including, but notlimited to: a paging function for the sending of paging requests toNG-RAN nodes 111 involved in a particular paging area; a UE contextmanagement function for allowing the AMF 321 to establish, modify,and/or release a UE context in the AMF 321 and the NG-RAN node 111; amobility function for UEs 101 in ECM-CONNECTED mode for intra-system HOsto support mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HOs to supportmobility from/to EPS systems; a NAS Signaling Transport function fortransporting or rerouting NAS messages between UE 101 and AMF 321; a NASnode selection function for determining an association between the AMF321 and the UE 101; NG interface management function(s) for setting upthe NG interface and monitoring for errors over the NG interface; awarning message transmission function for providing means to transferwarning messages via NG interface or cancel ongoing broadcast of warningmessages; a Configuration Transfer function for requesting andtransferring of RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information,performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 111 viaCN 120; and/or other like functions.

The XnAP 1063 may support the functions of the Xn interface 112 and maycomprise XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. TheXnAP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UEmobility within the 5G NR RAN 111 (or E-UTRAN 210), such as handoverpreparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures,UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN pagingprocedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. The XnAPglobal procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to aspecific UE 101, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RANupdate procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like.

In LTE implementations, the AP 1063 may be an S1 Application Protocollayer (S1-AP) 1063 for the S1 interface 113 defined between an E-UTRANnode 111 and an MME, or the AP 1063 may be an X2 application protocollayer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1063 for the X2 interface 112 that is definedbetween two or more E-UTRAN nodes 111.

The S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP) 1063 may support the functionsof the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, theS1-AP may comprise S1-AP EPs. An S1-AP EP may be a unit of interactionbetween the E-UTRAN node 111 and an MME 221 within an LTE CN 120. TheS1-AP 1063 services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services andnon UE-associated services. These services perform functions including,but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UEcapability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RANInformation Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

The X2AP 1063 may support the functions of the X2 interface 112 and maycomprise X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. TheX2AP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UEmobility within the E-UTRAN 120, such as handover preparation andcancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE contextretrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dualconnectivity related procedures, and the like. The X2AP globalprocedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE101, such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indicationprocedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, andthe like.

The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) 1062 mayprovide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP orXnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTEimplementations). The SCTP 1062 may ensure reliable delivery ofsignaling messages between the RAN node 111 and the AMF 321/MME 221based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP 1061. TheInternet Protocol layer (IP) 1061 may be used to perform packetaddressing and routing functionality. In some implementations the IPlayer 1061 may use point-to-point transmission to deliver and conveyPDUs. In this regard, the RAN node 111 may comprise L2 and L1 layercommunication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME/AMF toexchange information.

In a second example, a user plane protocol stack may comprise, in orderfrom highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP 1047, PDCP 1040, RLC 1030, MAC1120, and PHY 1110. The user plane protocol stack may be used forcommunication between the UE 101, the RAN node 111, and UPF 302 in NRimplementations or an S-GW 222 and P-GW 223 in LTE implementations. Inthis example, upper layers 1051 may be built on top of the SDAP 1047 andmay include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer(UDP/IP) 1052, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocolfor the user plane layer (GTP-U) 1053, and a User Plane PDU layer (UPPDU) 1063.

The transport network layer 1054 (also referred to as a “transportlayer”) may be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U 1053 may be used ontop of the UDP/IP layer 1052 (comprising a UDP layer and IP layer) tocarry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also referred to as the“Internet layer”) may be used to perform packet addressing and routingfunctionality. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packetsin any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example.

The GTP-U 1053 may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS corenetwork and between the radio access network and the core network. Theuser data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPPformats, for example. The UDP/IP 1052 may provide checksums for dataintegrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the sourceand destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected dataflows. The RAN node 111 and the S-GW 222 may utilize an S1-U interfaceto exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer(e.g., PHY 1010), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040,and/or SDAP 1047), the UDP/IP layer 1052, and the GTP-U 1053. The S-GW222 and the P-GW 223 may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange userplane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer, an L2 layer, theUDP/IP layer 1052, and the GTP-U 1053. As discussed previously, NASprotocols may support the mobility of the UE 101 and the sessionmanagement procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity betweenthe UE 101 and the P-GW 223.

Moreover, although not shown in FIG. 10, an application layer may bepresent above the AP 1063 and/or the transport network layer 1054. Theapplication layer may be a layer in which a user of the UE 101, RAN node111, or other network element interacts with software applications beingexecuted, for example, by application circuitry 405 or applicationcircuitry 505, respectively. The application layer may also provide oneor more interfaces for software applications to interact withcommunications systems of the UE 101 or RAN node 111, such as thebaseband circuitry 610. In some implementations the IP layer and/or theapplication layer may provide the same or similar functionality aslayers 5-7, or portions thereof, of the Open Systems Interconnection(OSI) model (e.g., OSI Layer 7—the application layer, OSI Layer 6—thepresentation layer, and OSI Layer 5—the session layer).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a method 1100 of SIB measurement assistedbeam reporting by a UE according to various exemplary embodiments. In1105, the UE (e.g., UE 101 a or UE 101 b) determines the SIB occasionsthat are to be measured. The UE may make this determination based oneach SIB being associated with a SSB resource ID. In 1110, the UE maymeasure the SIB occasions. The measurement of the SIB occasions mayinclude measuring the PDCCH DMRS and/or PDSCH DMRS layer 1 referencesignal received power (L1-RSRP) of different SIBs and/or the same SIBfor beam measurement. In these measurements, each SIB is QCLed with adistinct SSB resource ID. The measurement of the SIB occasions may alsoinclude determining a quality metric for each gNB beam candidate forbeam reporting. In these measurements, each SIB may be associated with aSSB resource ID based on the measurement result of a SIB, which isspatially QCLed with the same SSB resource ID.

In 1115, the UE may combine the measurements of the same SIB overmultiple repeated occasions to improve the measurement accuracy. In someembodiments, the UE may also sweep multiple UE reception (RX) beamcandidates over multiple SIB occasions, which are all QCLed with thesame SSB resource ID to improve UE beam acquisition accuracy.

In 1120, the UE down-selects the preferred SSB resource IDs based on thedetermined measurement quality metrics from the SIBs measured at 1110.In 1125, the UE generates beam measurement report messages, which areconfigured to indicate this information to the base station (e.g., gNBs111 a, 111 b). It should be noted that the beam reporting messages arepart of uplink control information (UCI) that may be carried by a PUCCHor PUSCH. In 1130, the UE transmits the beam reporting message(s) to thebase station.

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary method 1200 of analyzing downlink referenceresources by a UE (e.g., UE 101 a or 101 b) according to variousexemplary embodiments. In some embodiments, the electronic device(s),network(s), system(s), chip(s) or component(s), or portions orimplementations thereof, of FIGS. 1-10, or some other figure herein, maybe configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methodsas described herein, or portions thereof, such as, for example, method1200. In 1205, the UE performs measurements of DL reference resources(RS) allocated by the gNB in a frequency range (FR). Based on thesemeasurements, in 1210, the UE generates reporting messages to betransmitted to the gNB. Method 1200 may be implemented by the basebandcircuitry 610 shown in FIG. 6, or platform 500 shown in FIG. 5, or thehardware resources 900 shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary method 1300 of determining downlink referenceresources by a g-NodeB according to various exemplary embodiments. Insome embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s),chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, ofFIGS. 1-10, or some other figure herein, may be configured to performone or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, orportions thereof, such as, for example, method 1300. In 1305, the gNB(e.g., gNB 111 a or 111 b) allocates DL RS in a FR for the UE (e.g., UE101 a or 101 b). In 1310, the gNB receives or causes receipt ofreporting messages containing measurements by the UE for the allocatedRS. Method 1300 may be implemented by the baseband circuitry 610 shownin FIG. 6, or platform 500 shown in FIG. 5, or the hardware resources900 shown in FIG. 9.

It should be noted that for any one or more embodiments disclosedherein, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of thepreceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations,techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the examplesection below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above inconnection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configuredto operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forthbelow. Furthermore, circuitry associated with a UE, base station,network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or moreof the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance withone or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.

Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any otherexample (or combination of examples), unless explicitly statedotherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementationsprovides illustration and description but is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise formdisclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-describedexemplary embodiments may be implemented in any suitable software orhardware configuration or combination thereof. An exemplary hardwareplatform for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, forexample, an Intel x86 based platform with compatible operating system, aWindows OS, a Mac platform and MAC OS, a mobile device having anoperating system such as iOS, Android, etc. In a further example, theexemplary embodiments of the above described method may be embodied as aprogram containing lines of code stored on a non-transitory computerreadable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on aprocessor or microprocessor.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiableinformation should follow privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular,personally identifiable information data should be managed and handledso as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use,and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications may be made in the present disclosure, without departingfrom the spirit or the scope of the disclosure. Thus, it is intendedthat the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of thisdisclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claimsand their equivalent.

Examples

Example 1 may include a method performed by a user equipment (UE), themethod comprising: selecting at least one SSB resource ID based on themeasurements of a second signal block, wherein the second signal blockis spatially QCLed with the SSB resource ID.

Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein the second signal block is a system information block(SIB) in 5G NR.

Example 3 may include the method of examples 1 and 2 or some otherexample herein, wherein the measurement of the SIB can be based on thePDCCH DMRS and/or PDSCH DMRS within the SIB, wherein the measurementmetric can be a L1-RSRP.

Example 4 may include the method of examples 1 and 2 or some otherexample herein, wherein the measurement of the SIB can be combined overmultiple SIB repetition occasions associated with a same SSB resourceID.

Example 5 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein the UE generates a beam reporting message including theselected SSB resource ID(s) and transmits the message to the basestation.

Example 6 may include the methods of examples 1 and 2 or some otherexample herein, wherein the measurement metrics from the SIB can becombined with the measurement metrics from the SSB which is QCLed withthe SIB.

Example 7 may include a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in awireless network including the UE and a next generation NodeB (gNB), themethod comprising: performing measurements of downlink (DL) referenceresources (RS) allocated by the gNB in a frequency range (FR); andgenerating reporting messages, based on the measurements, to betransmitted to the gNB.

Example 8 may include the method of example 7 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the frequency range is FR1 or FR2.

Example 9 may include the method of example 7 and/or some other exampleherein, further comprising: transmitting the reporting message to thegNB.

Example 10 may include the method of example 7 and/or some other exampleherein, further comprising: receiving or causing to receive a beamswitching decision from the gNB, wherein the beam switching decision ismade by the gNB based on the reporting message from the UE; andperforming beam switching for the UE based on the beam switchingdecision.

Example 11 may include the method of example 7 and/or some other exampleherein, further comprising: determining system information blocks(SIBs), each associated with a synchronization signal block (SSB)resource identification (ID); and performing measurements on the SIBoccasions.

Example 12 may include the method of example 11 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein performing measurements on the SIB occasionsincludes performing measurements on a Physical Downlink Control Channel(PDCCH) Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) or a Physical DownlinkShared Channel (PDSCH) DMRS within a SIB occasion or over multiple SIBoccasions.

Example 13 may include the method of example 12 and/or some otherexample herein, further comprising: performing a quasi co-locationoperation on the SIBs with the SSB ID to obtain quasi co-located (QCLed)SSBs; and combining the QCLed SSBs and the SIBs.

Example 14 may include the method of example 11 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein a measurement metric for the measurement of theSIBs is a Layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP).

Example 15 may include the method of example 14 or some other exampleherein, further comprising: down-selecting a preferred SSB resource IDbased on the measurement metrics.

Example 16 may include the method of any of the examples 7-15 and/orsome other example herein, wherein the method is performed by anapparatus that is implemented in or employed by the UE.

Example 17 may include a method performed by a next generation NodeB(gNB) in a wireless network including the gNB and a user equipment (UE),the method comprising: allocating downlink (DL) reference resources (RS)in a frequency range (FR) for the UE; and receiving or causing receptionof reporting messages containing measurements by the UE for theallocated RS.

Example 18 may include the method of example 17 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the frequency range is FR1 or FR2.

Example 19 may include the method of example 17 and/or some otherexample herein, further comprising: determining a beam switchingdecision based on the reporting messages from the UE; and transmittingthe beam switching decision to the UE.

Example 20 may include the method of example 17 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the measurements by the UE for the allocated RSinclude measurements on the SIB occasions, each associated with asynchronization signal block (SSB) resource identification (ID).

Example 21 may include the method of example 20 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the measurements on the SIB occasions includesperforming measurements on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) or a Physical Downlink SharedChannel (PDSCH) DMRS within a SIB occasion or over multiple SIBoccasions.

Example 22 may include the method of example 21 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the reporting messages include QCLed SSBsobtained by performing a quasi co-location operation on the SIBs withthe SSB ID.

Example 23 may include the method of example 17 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein a measurement metric for the measurement of theSIBs is a Layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP).

Example 24 may include the method of example 17-23 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the method is performed by an apparatus that isimplemented in or employed by the gNB.

Example 25 may include the method of examples 1-24 or some other exampleherein, wherein a number of measured SIB repetition occasions can bedetermined based on a scaling factor defined by SSB-based measurement.

Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one ormore elements of a method described in or related to any of examples1-24, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 27 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-24, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 28 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-24, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 29 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-24, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 30 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-24, or portions thereof.

Example 31 may include a signal as described in or related to any ofexamples 1-24, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 32 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol dataunit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples1-24, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described herein.

Example 33 may include a signal encoded with data, as described in orrelated to any of examples 1-24, or portions or parts thereof, orotherwise described herein.

Example 34 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame,segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or relatedto any of examples 1-24, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwisedescribed herein.

Example 35 may include an electromagnetic signal carryingcomputer-readable instructions, wherein execution of thecomputer-readable instructions by one or more processors causes the oneor more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process asdescribed in or related to any of examples 1-24, or portions thereof.

Example 36 may include a computer program comprising instructions,wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes theprocessing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process asdescribed in or related to any of examples 1-24, or portions thereof.

Example 37 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown anddescribed herein.

Example 38 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 39 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 40 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:selecting at least one synchronization signal block (SSB) resource IDbased on measurements of a second signal block, wherein the secondsignal block comprises a system information block (SIB) in 5G new radio(NR) that is spatially quasi co-located (QCLed) with the SSB resourceID; generating a beam reporting message including the selected SSBresource ID(s); and transmitting the beam reporting message to a basestation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement of the SIB isbased on at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)demodulation reference signal (DMRS) and a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) DMRS within the SIB, and wherein a measurement metriccomprises a Layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP).
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the measurement of the SIB is combined overmultiple SIB repetition occasions associated with a same SSB resourceID.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein measurement metrics from the SIBare combined with measurement metrics from the SSB which is QCLed withthe SIB.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurements of thesecond signal block are for downlink (DL) reference resources (RS)allocated by the base station in a frequency range, wherein thefrequency range comprises one of a first frequency range (FR1), havingsub-6 GHz frequency bands, or a second frequency range (FR2), havingmillimeter (mm) wave bands.
 6. The method of claim 5, furthercomprising: receiving or causing reception of a beam switching decisionfrom the base station, wherein the beam switching decision is determinedby the base station based on at least the reporting message; andperforming beam switching for the UE based on the beam switchingdecision.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: down-selecting apreferred SSB resource ID based on a measurement metric, wherein themeasurement metric for the measurement of the SIBs comprises a Layer 1reference signal received power (L1-RSRP).
 8. A user equipment (UE),comprising: one or more processors configured to: select at least onesynchronization signal block (SSB) resource ID based on measurements ofa second signal block, wherein the second signal block comprises asystem information block (SIB) in 5G new radio (NR) that is spatiallyquasi co-located (QCLed) with the SSB resource ID, and generate a beamreporting message including the selected SSB resource ID(s); and atransceiver configured to transmit the beam reporting message to a basestation.
 9. The UE of claim 8, wherein the measurement of the SIB isbased on at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)demodulation reference signal (DMRS) and a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) DMRS within the SIB, and wherein a measurement metriccomprises a Layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP).
 10. TheUE of claim 8, wherein the measurement of the SIB is combined overmultiple SIB repetition occasions associated with a same SSB resourceID.
 11. The UE of claim 8, wherein measurement metrics from the SIB arecombined with measurement metrics from the SSB which is QCLed with theSIB.
 12. The UE of claim 8, wherein the measurements of the secondsignal block are for downlink (DL) reference resources (RS) allocated bythe base station in a frequency range, wherein the frequency rangecomprises one of a first frequency range (FR1), having sub-6 GHzfrequency bands, or a second frequency range (FR2), having millimeter(mm) wave bands.
 13. The UE of claim 12, wherein the transceiver isfurther configured to receive or a beam switching decision from the basestation, wherein the beam switching decision is determined by the basestation based on at least the reporting message and the processor isfurther configured to perform beam switching for the UE based on atleast the beam switching decision.
 14. A method performed by a nextgeneration NodeB (gNB) in a wireless network including the gNB and auser equipment (UE), the method comprising: allocating downlink (DL)reference resources (RS) in a frequency range for the UE, wherein the DLcomprise SIB occasions, each associated with a synchronization signalblock (SSB) resource identification (ID); and receiving or causingreception of reporting messages containing measurements by the UE forthe DL RS.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the frequency range isone of a first frequency range (FR1) having sub-6 GHz frequency bands,or a second frequency range (FR2) having millimeter (mm) wave bands. 16.The method of claim 14, further comprising: determining a beam switchingdecision based on the reporting messages from the UE; and transmittingthe beam switching decision to the UE.
 17. The method of claim 14,wherein the measurements on the SIB occasions includes performingmeasurements on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) demodulationreference signal (DMRS) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)DMRS within a SIB occasion or over multiple SIB occasions.
 18. Themethod of claim 17, wherein the reporting messages include quasico-located (QCLed) SSBs obtained by performing a quasi co-locationoperation on the SIBs with the SSB resource ID.
 19. The method of claim14, wherein a measurement metric for measurement of the SIB occasionscomprises Layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP).
 20. Themethod of claim 14, wherein a number of measured SIB repetitionoccasions is based on at least a scaling factor defined by SSB-basedmeasurement.